Murder Victim. On September 1, 2004, the first day of school in Russia, a group of terrorists attacked School Number One in Beslan, North Ossetia-Alania, Russian Federation and took more than 1,200 children and adults hostage. The school was held under siege until September 3 when the terrorists detonated bombs in the packed gymnasium precipitating a firefight between them and Russian security forces. More than 300 civilians were killed, half of them children.